Our Story

Carson’s store was first opened in 1907 and was run by Jane Carson and the Carson family in two different locations prior to settling on its current location on Main Street. Originally, Carson’s was located at the foot of Main Street, where the Latham Chester Store sits today, in a building that no longer exists. Later, the store was moved to the opposite end of Main Street and was located adjacent to the train tracks. Unfortunately, a spark from a passing steam train caught the store on fire and it burned down.

Finally, the Carson family purchased the house next to Carsons’s current location. The building was originally a summer open air kitchen. It was built in the 1800’s when all food cooking was still done with fire, because it would get so hot people built summer kitchens to help keep their houses cooler. The summer kitchen was originally set much further back from the road. To solve this issue it had to be moved. Posts were cut from a cedar swamp that was located near where the firehouse sits. The posts were laid down and the summer kitchen was hitched to a team of mules and dragged main street. The store has remained in business in the same location for almost 100 years.When Jane became too old to keep running the store her son, Bernie took over. It was he who installed the counter and stools in 1954.

David Blacker purchased the building in 1979. Blacker picked the building up and poured a foundation underneath to get the structure out of the dirt and moisture so it could be preserved. Over the past 35 years, he worked piece by piece to preserve and restore the store to as close to original as possible.

Today, Carson’s is still run by the Blacker family. David’s son, Andrew Blacker, operates the store and is working hard to preserve the rich tradition of the store and the community.

43 Main St, Groton, CT 06340

W - Su 7am - 2pmM - Tu Closed

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This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.